In 1999, when the then PM Tony Blair announced he wanted 50 per cent of the country to go to university, it was a very different world. There were no smartphones, no social media, a booming global economy (the UK economy grew 0-9 per cent in the third quarter of 1999); the jobs section of newspapers was a well-used source of information both for prospective candidates and people hiring and there was a genuine sense that university was the most successful and tested path to an interesting career with prospects.

Twenty-five years later and the world is a different place, and Keir Starmer’s recognition of this felt apt when he set a new target of two-thirds going to university or further education or “joining a gold standard apprenticeship.”

This prominence given to skills and training linked jobs was an enormous and welcome boon to a sector that has been traditionally been treated as the bridesmaid to university’s bride. It is also a reflection of a rapidly changing professional world.

I encounter thousands of young people who feel let down by the (very expensive) promise of a university degree that has not only failed to deliver a promising career, but even a foot in the door, parents anger that their child’s degree was a costly mistake and employers from a multitude of industries who plainly state many university courses are not teaching the skills to make young people work-ready.

Otis, 22, studied Computer Science at Loughborough University and attained a first-class degree, and his experience will resonate with tens of thousands: “I was so happy when I got a first and thought, this is it, I’m going to be knocked down with offers! Since leaving uni over a year ago, I’ve applied for maybe 500 jobs, including internships, and even some unpaid ones because I’m so desperate I’d do it.

“I’ve heard back from probably 10, got two interviews but they said I didn’t have enough experience. But it’s mostly a dead, depressing silence and day after day trawling LinkedIn. I’ve just started at Costa. So, I spent 50 grand to do a job I could have got for free.”

With the ferocious global market making the competition for every job a race to the top, AI quickly eliminating entry-level jobs young people would have traditionally done, and outdated career advice in schools and universities, it’s unsurprising that there is enormous interest in alternatives that are seen as a more reliable stepping stone into the world of work than more academic degrees.

Last week, it was revealed that £800m extra investment is planned for 16-19-year-old learners to help 20,000 more people in education or technical/apprenticeship routes. Part of the plan is setting up Technical Excellence Colleges (with 14 new ones announced) in high-growth or priority sectors like advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital and changes include shorter apprenticeships (ie courses that are less than 12 months if someone can fully reach competency in less time) to be eligible for funding.

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There is good news because the demand is sky-high, particularly in IT, engineering, healthcare and construction. In one year, UCAS’s apprenticeship platform had 1.35 million searches, leading to around 225,000 applications. In Tony Blair’s era, apprenticeships had the whiff of “blue collar” and were the route taken by kids perceived as not bright enough to go to university – but no more. Gen Z increasingly views apprenticeships as the smarter, quicker, cost-saving route to a lucrative career.

The manager of a top UK plumbing firm, who has worked in the industry since he entered it as a youngster in the 1980s, told me: “We now have kids applying in their literal thousands who wouldn’t have glanced at us 10 years ago and definitely not 20. Private school kids, girls, kids with degrees that haven’t delivered.

“Every one of my mates is having a word in my ear, asking if I can set their kid up with an apprenticeship. As a working-class lad myself, my heart breaks a bit, because apprenticeships were their thing, you know? You left school at 16 because it wasn’t your thing and got an apprenticeship.

“Now, they are being nudged out because everyone wants one. I try to prioritise kids from backgrounds like mine; that’s getting harder and harder. I’m hoping with Keir Starmer’s funding we can hire more young people for apprenticeships in the next 10 years.

The second apprenticeship model is the apprenticeship-degree, where the candidate does a combination of learning (and eventually acquiring a Bachelor’s degree) and working on the job, often with a 50/50 split and with the highly attractive incentive that it is funded by the employer.

These have become so in-demand by both employers – who view them as delivering more “work-ready” young candidates both professionally and psychologically – and from young people who want to do them. Fatima, 20, attended a GDST school that is known for their high-quality career advice and professional shaping of the young women it educates. She is doing a law apprenticeship-style degree and describes both the application and interview process as “more competitive and harder than the Oxbridge one”, which she also did.  read more